Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Below: maps from 1982 on and the census since 1940.
New Witten dates its founding to 1909 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1940.
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how New Witten’s history is told.
From Wikipedia’s history of New Witten.
The city was founded on April 1, 1909, alongside the town-sites of McNeely and Wewela by the federal government.
The town was originally located in a different place from where it stands today, however, around 1929, the railroad track missed the town by 2 miles, prompting a relocation of the town. The new town was simply called New Witten.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
The U.S. Geological Survey’s map of New Witten.
1982Witten sheet · 1:25,000U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of New Witten.
Between 51 and 211 people in every census since 1940.
9 censuses, 1940–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on New Witten’s Wikipedia page.
Nobody well known was born in New Witten itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Old hamlets and crossroads still carry their names on the map.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
In 1909, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. New Witten’s post office opened in 1909, and the census of 1940 counted 211 people here.
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.